A widespread terror has dominated the national unconscious for years now: that of war. It is a deserved fear because, with our heads boldly stuck in a hole on the ground, we have denied the possibility and (actively) despised any antidote. As if forcing doctors and nurses to treat colds or abrasions and not talk about anything else had effectively eliminated all the most serious health events.
We fully agree with those who teach that, having badly lost the last world war and NOT having signed an "Armistice", i.e. a agreement between belligerent states to suspend hostilities, but rather an “Unconditional Surrender” (read interview September 1943: "Unconditional surrender"), we no longer have any right to open our mouths. Especially if from unfortunate little balconies than for theirs day from Lions they left us a legacy century from sheep, with the only option of slaughtering each other by denying (all of us) the merciless truth.
“But the founding fathers, enlightened by the Lord, after having taken the Bastille... crossed the Red Sea... and expelled the English... left us article 11 of the Constitution...” remember someone. Our repudiation of war is like the peace of mind “happily achieved” by an emasculated eunuch: commendable but certainly not spontaneous or even "credible".
The war is back and, even if we don't hear shots or detonations in the distance, we can observe it up close in everyday life: when we pay a bill, when we go shopping, or when we see the (real) economic data scrolling on television regarding a country in free fall. Propaganda is not enough to fill the chasms: economic, financial, policies and… military!
After decades of meager defense budgets, the management of which could raise more than one eyebrow, we are still scandalized if the Allies ask to reach the minimum level of defense spending that we should have respected for years. All the governments of the last decade had promised to respect the 2% by 2024 and... we postponed it until 2028. And in the meantime some NATO countries like the UK they are preparing to reach 2,5%...
If, before, spending or not on our armed forces could have been indifferent, since every victory or defeat would have been "others'" (see the example of Afghanistan), today the risk of seeing hundreds of coffins parade every day is real and imminent .
The lies or censorship of recent decades have placed us face to face with low or medium intensity challenges which, due to "national interest" (always others...) - at Alliance, EU or UN level - we have faced more than with dignity.
When the contenders are no longer four – grant it – “run away from home”, but rather trained soldiers with equipment updated and improved from year to year… the situation changes and the price rises exponentially. What price? The lives of our men and women in uniform, for starters...
In rare interviews “granted” to the most loyal subjects by the political-military leadership, turns of phrase distract from the real emergencies. Like when you ask about “new" threat from drones and, indulging in severe myopia, we forget that four years ago the Chief of Defense Staff had given a clear alarm: "In the face of current threats to global security and the increase in crises and conflicts in the areas of direct interest to our country, the state of health of the military instrument and the related level of readiness, efficiency and interoperability today present significant general critical issues with consequent on overall effectiveness. These are organizational problems, availability of personnel, but above all the inadequacy of the means and systems available" (General Enzo Vecciarelli, November 2020)
Or when our people happily deploy on "deterrence" missions armored cars from peacekeeping (cost as much if not more than the best tank) which we have been acquiring for decades and which (to the happiness of some self-styled "patriots") we will still have to acquire for a long time before admitting that the bar has been raised by over a meter (of "homogeneous steel").
We then want to talk about other weapon systems, ammunition, training or personnel and – ta-ta! – of his motivation to be uselessly sacrificed?
In the next few weeks we will examine some of the too many critical issues that can no longer be "super-bullshitted". So that he is no longer “ADAM” (adamori! or for the courtly “you must succumb to the inescapable fate!”) the order – today unavoidable – for soldiers who may be involved in the ongoing global conflict.
Photo: Italian Army
